


This Long and Lonely Road to Hell

by agentwashingtin



Series: Origins AU [2]
Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Gen, Minecraft!AU, kings!au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-16
Updated: 2014-07-16
Packaged: 2018-02-09 02:47:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1966032
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/agentwashingtin/pseuds/agentwashingtin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <em>Through the dark of the underground chamber, Ryan could barely make out the looks on Geoff’s and Ray’s faces. No one spoke, but the room seemed full of noise to Ryan. Harsh accusations. Insincere apologies. Desperate pleas.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Deafening.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>He’d had enough.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Turning his back on his closest friends, he stepped into the portal and let it drag him away into an unfamiliar world.</em>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	This Long and Lonely Road to Hell

**Author's Note:**

> I couldn’t wait until King Gavin to write more in this verse, so here’s a little companion to my minecraft kings au to satiate me for the time being.

Fire.

Everything was on fire.

Ryan stumbled away from the Nether portal with a gasp, one hand clutching his chest and the other gripping his sword so tight his hand felt numb.

Heat.

Waves of it blasted against his face. His cloak whipped around his legs, snapping at his ankles like a vengeful serpent.

Ryan stood, dazed for a moment, before his feet began dragging against the Netherrack, carrying him to a small outcropping of bedrock. He dropped to his knees and retched, throat burning against the sensation. His head swirled with the aftereffects of traveling between dimensions and he groaned in pain.

The air around him was thick with heat and the smell of sulfur. He choked on it and gagged again. His hands curled into fists, knuckles scraping against the rough stone beneath him as he spit and staggered to his feet. A horrible screeching noise filled his ears and he spun around, searching the sky frantically. A ghast hovered in the distance, its tentacles waving lazily as it drifted towards him. 

The ghast cried out again and Ryan dove out of the way just as a large fireball shot out of its mouth and hit the portal with an echoing  _boom_.

Ryan sheltered his face against the razor sharp pieces of Netherrack hurtling through the air. 

When the ground settled, Ryan wasted no time in securing his sword at his waist and sprinting away as fast as he could. With a short glance over his shoulder he saw that the portal was still standing, but the purple light had dissipated and gone out. His heart sank, but he kept running, trying to get out of the ghast's range. He passed rivers of lava and skirted around pits of soul sand, dodging fireballs and anything else that appeared in his path.

Eventually he had to stop. Black spots danced in front of his eyes and he could still feel blood soaking through his shirt and dripping down his cheek. 

He stumbled once, twice, and then skidded to a halt. His breath came out in ragged gasps as he sank to his knees in a natural cave. He could feel his body giving up on him, but he expended the last of his energy dragging some pieces of Netherrack in front of the cave entrance. As soon as the cave was effectively blocked off, Ryan collapsed to the ground and he blacked out, his exhausted body finally letting go.

* * *

When Ryan awoke his skin felt like it was on fire. 

He coughed and sat up, stripping off his cloak and bloodied shirt. His head still throbbed, but it was nothing compared to the burning heat spreading across his cheek and chest. 

Tearing off strips of his cloak, Ryan managed to bandage the wound on his chest before sinking back against the cave wall. His breath came in short gasps, skin clammy and feverish as he tried to calm his racing heart.

The Nether was  _loud_. Even behind the walls of his cave he could hear the sounds of monsters roaming the hills outside. The screams of the monsters assaulted his ears. He covered them with his hands, hunching over towards his chest.

_It isn’t your place to try and play with something as dangerous as this._

Ryan gasped, Geoff's voice filtering through his head. 

_You broke the law._

_I'm sorry, I have no choice._

Ryan squeezed his eyes shut, clenching his jaw. He could feel tears starting to leak out from his eyes, but couldn't pull his hands away to wipe them off.

_Don't you care at all?_

_YES!_ Ryan wanted to scream.  _I do care! I swear it on everything, I do!_

_The Nether is dangerous._

_Don't you care at all?_

His tears soaked into the cut on his cheek with a sharp sting. 

_Don't you care at all?_

"I'm sorry," Ryan whispered brokenly.

_Don't you care at all?_

_You don't care at all._

Ryan screamed. He grabbed the back of his head and bent forward, screaming until he was panting for breath, and then screamed again.

He screamed until his voice gave out, his throat producing nothing more than strangled, raw gasps.

His chest felt tight, heaving to pull in breaths. 

"I'm sorry," Ryan choked. "I'm so sorry. I'm sorry, just  _please-"_

Ryan's voice trailed off. He was still shaking, skin feeling too tight on his bones, like it wanted to peel right off. He wanted to do that. He wanted to shed his skin and start over. Everything was wrong. The Nether was wrong.  _He_ was wrong. He was wrong. 

Ryan hauled himself to his feet and stumbled towards the entrance to the cave. He put all his energy into moving the Netherrack out of the way and then stood there, staring out over the wasteland of the Nether. 

A lake of lava sat in front of him, quietly bubbling and popping. There were no ghasts near him, so the skies were clear. He could see stalactites of Netherrack jutting down from the top of the cavern, the bases disappearing into the fog concealing the ceiling. 

Across the lake he could barely make out the Nether portal, standing tall and dead near the wall of bedrock. 

"Please," he whispered again. "I'm sorry, just please..." He swallowed and stared at the dark shape forming his only way home. 

"Please find me."

* * *

Ryan lay on his stomach, staring out over the top of the wall of Netherrack. He'd been tracking this pigman for what had to be hours now, waiting for it to detach itself from the group. 

After his first day in the Nether, Ryan had lost track of time. There was no day in the Nether, nor night for that matter. Ryan caught fitful hours of sleep whenever he could, but never more than two at a time. He couldn't exactly remember the last time he'd lain down to rest, but right now he was more worried about food than sleep.

The pigman stood alone near a lavafall, tottering around on unstable legs. It snorted quietly, holding its sword out in front of it in a perpetual fighting stance. 

Taking a deep breath, Ryan launched himself out from behind the Netherrack, plunging the sword deep into the pigman's back before it had time to register what had happened. 

The pigman didn't make a sound as it fell against Ryan. He grunted and pushed it off of himself, his sword coming free of its flesh draped in thick strings of coagulated blood. 

Sheathing his sword, Ryan grabbed the pigman under the armpits and pulled it back behind his cover. Knowing he wouldn't have much time, he quickly began to check the pigman's corpse. It wasn't carrying anything, but Ryan didn't care about the items pigmen sometimes had.

Ryan grabbed the pigman's mostly clean sword and set to slicing out chunks of meat. He carved around the dead flesh and cast away bones, hurriedly picking out the freshest slices of meat and stuffing them into his makeshift bag. 

When he was done, he tossed the sword away and stood up, racing back towards his cave. He knew the way by heart now, leaping over tricky pits of soul sand and under Netherrack outcroppings. He was careful to stay away from the bigger pits of lava and clusters of glow stone. The monsters couldn't see well in the shadows of the Nether, but they would definitely spot his scurrying form along the banks of the lava lakes.

He was the outsider here.

Ryan knew that he didn't belong- the one thing that stuck out in the otherwise uniform hellhole of the Nether. The only thing in the Nether he even slightly resembled were the pigman, but the other monsters in the realm knew how to tell live flesh from dead.

And they sought out his blood like it was the nectar of the gods.

Right around the time he had first arrived in the Nether, Ryan had gotten himself caught in a large expanse of soul sand. A magma cube had been chasing him, and he could hear the wet smack of its body hitting the ground as he had struggled to free himself.

He almost hadn't made it.

That was a long time ago, however. Back when he wasn't used to running for his life, or fighting off droves of pigmen to keep them away from his cave. Back when he hadn't known to hit the ghast's fireballs back at them so that he could get their tears- the only form of liquid in the Nether.

Back when he thought he could be saved.

Ryan sneered at the thought. How pathetic he had been, thinking that his "friends" would come to his aid.

No, he had given up on them a long time ago. He knew now that he could trust no one. The only person he could rely on was himself. The others could go to hell.

Ryan snickered. Oh, if only they knew what hell was like.

He reached his cave and sat down outside it to rest. This cave was different than the first one he had found. It was located under the bridge of a Nether fortress, hidden behind pillars of Nether brick and directly across from a lava lake. Not many monsters ventured over this way, save for the occasional drifting blaze. It was perfect for him.

Ryan grabbed his bag and fished around in it for the meat. He hadn't gotten very much- there wasn't much flesh on pigmen that wasn't rotten- but it would feed him for a few meals.

He speared a chunk of meat on the tip of his sword and held it over the flames of a burning piece of Netherrack. The blood on the meat sizzled, dripping into the flames. When the meat was sufficiently cooked, he pulled it back and hardly waited for it to cool before tearing into the chunk with his teeth.

It'd been a while since he'd eaten and his stomach wanted to protest the food, but he choked it down, knowing he needed the energy. He frowned. Maybe he should try sleep again-

No. Sleep could wait. There were still areas of the Nether fortress he hadn't explored, and he couldn't afford to lose his cave because of an unchecked spawner. And the nightmares...

Ryan shook himself, staring down at his scarred and calloused hands, shiny burns littering the skin. Sleep could wait. He could wait. 

It was all he ever seemed to do anymore.

* * *

_"What you've done. What you're doing-" Geoff stopped, glaring at Ryan. "I don't even know who you are anymore."_

_"Geoff-" Ryan pleaded._

_Geoff shook his head. "You're a danger to this kingdom. You're a danger to everyone. To Michael, to Jack, to Gavin." Geoff stared at Ryan. "To Ray."_

_Ryan winced, curling in on himself. "Geoff, I swear, I didn't mean to-"_

_"EXCUSES," Geoff roared and Ryan winced again. "I took you in. I gave you a home, I gave you hospitality, I gave you friends, and a new life. I gave you the_ crown _. And this is what you do with it?"_

_Geoff strode forward and bent down in front of Ryan. "How could I have ever trusted someone like you?"_

_Ryan gaped, his breath hitching in his throat. "Please-"_

_"No," Geoff murmured. "I'm done with you, Ryan. You're a disappointment. I should have known better."_

_Geoff drew his sword and Ryan shrank back, heart pounding in his chest._

_"You're the worst thing that's ever happened to this kingdom," Geoff hissed._

_Without another word, Geoff stepped forward and raised his sword. It arced down towards Ryan's neck, and Ryan was powerless to stop it._

Ryan screamed, back arching as his eyes flew open. He let out a strangled gasp, rolling onto his side and retching onto the stone beneath him. It'd been a long time since he'd eaten anything besides mushrooms, so nothing came up, but his stomach refused to stop pitching every time he moved.

His throat burned and sweat dripped off his skin. He wiped his mouth, struggling to get on his knees. 

The fresh cut he had on his side stung with every twisting of his body. He gingerly got to his feet and then stumbled into the wall, eyes shutting as he tried to control his breathing. 

_Don't you care at all?_

Ryan felt like throwing up again. He knew he shouldn't have fallen asleep, but his body had been refusing to cooperate with him and so he'd sat down and tried his best to keep it to a minimum.

Apparently he'd been asleep long enough to dream, however.

Everything he feared, everything he'd been trying so hard to forget was all brought back in one fell swoop. One dream, and he was yet again reminded of his life as king.

A disappointment. That's what Geoff had called him. He was a disappointment to the kingdom.

Ryan shook his head. He wasn't. He couldn't have been. He had tried so hard to do his best for Achievement City. 

If he ever got the chance to try again... 

He shook his head again. They'd never let him back onto the throne. Not willingly, at least.

Ryan paused, and then felt a wicked grin start to curl at his lips. He'd sit on that throne once more. He'd show them that he was worthy of being king. He'd show them that he  _was_ the King. He'd always been, and always would be. 

Ryan stalked out of his cave, scratching at the beard that had grown during his time in the Nether. He would become king of Achievement City again if it killed him. The throne was  _his_ to rule.

He paid no attention to where he was going. In the time he'd spent being chased through the hellish realm, his ears had picked up on the small nuances of sound that the different monsters made. He'd know if he needed to run without even having to be aware of what was around him. 

Ryan's feet took him towards a place he hadn't been in what seemed like years. He rounded a large hill of Netherrack and came upon the dead Nether portal.

Or- it should have been dead.

Ryan's eyes widened in surprise as he took in the twisting purples of the portal. It couldn't be...

But it was. The telltale noise of the portal rang in his ears, making him shiver in both dread and excitement. The portal was live. He could do it. He could actually leave.

He could take back his throne. 

Ryan licked his lips. They were dry and chapped, split in more than one place and bleeding a little. He smiled despite the cuts, letting the blood leak down his chin. 

Achievement City. His kingdom. His home. It was only a few steps away.

Ryan took a step forward and felt a cool blast of air through the portal. He almost moaned at the sensation. He hadn't felt cold in so long.

This was his chance. He could do it. He could prove to the others that he belonged on the throne. He could do it. It was right there.

Reaching down to grab hold of the reassuring weight of his sword, Ryan stepped into the portal without looking back at the wasteland behind him.

He had survived. He'd made it.

Now it was time to take the throne, and he had a few ideas of how to do it.

He just needed to pay a little visit to an old friend first. 


End file.
